Applying Observability to the Internet of Living Things (IoLT)

We see IoT everywhere, from smart fridges to air quality sensors, but what about applying observability to billions and billions of living things? Introducing Meowpy, my virtual cat with a full observability stack. In this talk, I will build a digital pet from scratch in Python, instrument it with OpenTelemetry to track his favorite napping spots, and visualize its “life” in real time. We’ll track its habits, moods, and (attempted) escapes in real time. I’ll show how to create a RESTful “cat API”, instrument it with OpenTelemetry for tracing, I’ll show alerting with the ELK stack and Kibana visualizations. I’ll go over observability basics, log, metrics, and traces, how to apply them to our digital pet, and show you how to structure your telemetry data for “living” systems. By the end, we’ll find the average MPH (meows per hour) and expand our understanding of applications of observability. There’s no prior observability experience required, just some Python basics as well as a love for any living thing, from feline to fungal.